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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · dip · wind · snap · chair · date · branch · capital

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. land — a country
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. branch — a division
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. capital — money
  14. land — ground
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. chair — a leader
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. land — to come down
  19. capital — a city
  20. dip — to sink
  21. date — the fruit
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. snap — to click

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com